The Dissolution of Social Democracy

Shammas, Victor Lund

doi:10.1525/fsr.2018.31.1.85

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The prison practices typical of Prison Island were developed in a period of social democracy with a belief in humanism and solidarity (Shammas, 2018). However, the Norwegian welfare state is changing.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Norwegian prisons are often praised for their enhanced social services, material conditions and allegedly humane treatment of prisoners, compared to prisons in most other countries. This approach to incarceration is part of the 'Scandinavian exceptionalism' (Pratt & Eriksson, 2014;Shammas, 2018). However, in the past few years, this approach has begun to unravel.…”

Section: The Norwegian Penal System: 'Scandinavian Exceptionalism'?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in the past few years, this approach has begun to unravel. According to Shammas (2018), politicians are now enacting legislative changes that raise sentencing levels and introduce harsher penal sanctions. Some major changes have taken place in the Norwegian penal system since 2018.…”

Section: The Norwegian Penal System: 'Scandinavian Exceptionalism'?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inmates’ perceptions and experiences of how they were prepared for release from a Norwegian open prison

Andvig

Koffeld-Hamidane

Ausland

et al. 2021

Nordic Journal of Criminology

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Re-entry to society is challenging and inmates often feel unprepared for release. Insufficient human and social capital makes it difficult to cope with the challenges of everyday life outside prison. In Norway the aim of prisoner rehabilitation is to counteract new criminal acts, and make it possible for the convicted person to change his or her criminal patterns. This qualitative study aimed to explore and describe inmates' perceptions and experiences of how they were prepared for release from a Norwegian open prison. Three focus group interviews with inmates were conducted. A thematic content analysis of the data resulted in three categories: 1) life outside, 2) working as a community and 3) useful learning for the future. Our findings indicate that inmates were prepared in several ways to return to the society. One aspect was the social climate where inmates were treated with humanity by staff. Inmates received training in local democracy, and developed hope for the future, self-reliance and personal agency, which strengthened their process of preparing for release. Inhibiting factors seemed to be an emotional vulnerability, inadequate preparation for modern working life and poorly planned release preparation. This study indicates the importance of maintaining open prisons with humanistic values.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Norwegian Penal System: 'Scandinavian Exceptionalism'?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inmates’ perceptions and experiences of how they were prepared for release from a Norwegian open prison

Andvig

Koffeld-Hamidane

Ausland

et al. 2021

Nordic Journal of Criminology

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Reproduction and the Welfare State: Notes on Norwegian Biopolitics

Shammas

Sandset

2020

Nordic Journal of Social Research

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Norway has long been considered to be a bastion of social democracy due to its strong, protective, decommodifying welfare state. However, with the recent rise of neoliberalism and right-wing populist politics across the West, this Northern European society has gradually shifted from Keynesian Fordism to a moderate form of neoliberalism. This political-economic pivot has also resulted in a transformation of what Foucault termed biopolitics: a politics concerned with life itself. In early 2019, leading politicians in Norway’s centre-right coalition government placed the problem of the declining fertility rate on the national agenda and framed the problem of biological reproduction in ways particular to their political-ideological perspectives. The Conservative Party discussed reproduction in terms of producerism, or the problem of supplying the welfare state with labouring, tax-paying citizens. The Progress Party emphasised ethnonational exclusion, engaging in racial denigration with the aim to ensure the reproduction of ‘ethnic Norwegians’. The Christian Democrats highlighted a conservative Christian ‘right to life’ topos amidst growing secularisation and pluralism. All three parties signalled a turn from traditional social-democratic ideologies. Neoliberalism has proven to be malleable, able to fuse with a wide range of biopolitical programmes including moral exhortations, ethnonational exclusion and religious discourse to approach the problem of reproduction. However, this post-social-democratic approach generally is unwilling to provide material security through large-scale social expenditures and universal welfare institutions, preferring instead to address the ‘hearts and minds’ of the populace. Consequently, the fundamental cause of sub-replacement fertility—the gradual proliferation of ontological insecurity—remains unaddressed.

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The Dissolution of Social Democracy

Cited by 2 publications

References 13 publications

Inmates’ perceptions and experiences of how they were prepared for release from a Norwegian open prison

Inmates’ perceptions and experiences of how they were prepared for release from a Norwegian open prison

Reproduction and the Welfare State: Notes on Norwegian Biopolitics

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